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Labor can be seen as a scarce resource. If a US developer want to maximize profit he needs to be as scarce as possible. PG and startup employers are in the rev
by aortega 12y ago
Labor can be seen as a scarce resource. If a US developer want to maximize profit he needs to be as scarce as possible.
PG and startup employers are in the reverse situation: they need to commoditize labor as much as possible to maximize their profit (labor can be 80% of the fixed expenses in a IT business).
A developer residing outside US needs to support PG at first so he has access to bigger profit, but once he's in US, he's in the same position as the US developer (he needs to become scarce).
This is basic economic theory.
- davidw 12y ago> Labor can be seen as a scarce resource. You could, but that's a really limited version of economics that misses the fact that it's not a zero-sum game.
- aortega 12y agoMakes sense, but can you think of an example about how a software developer would benefit for being a commodity worker?
- davidw 12y agoDo you really see that as a risk? If it happens, do you think it's realistic that it would happen in some countries but not others?
- UK-AL 12y agoIts already happened in my country. Web developers are hired on minimum wage.
- davidw 12y agoI know a bunch of people in the UK doing web stuff, and none of them are making minimum wage. Far from it.
- UK-AL 12y agoDepends on location, and seniority.
- hackerboos 12y agoJunior web development positions outside of London can easily pay 15,000 - 17,000 GBP. This is really low. Wages for developers on the whole in the UK are far lower than the US.